


Swear Jar

by vvoidknight



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baby Blasters, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 15:03:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5932611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vvoidknight/pseuds/vvoidknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Children will repeat anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swear Jar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KeetahSpacecat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeetahSpacecat/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Trust](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5378657) by [KeetahSpacecat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeetahSpacecat/pseuds/KeetahSpacecat). 



Ever since Frisk started accompanying Sans to Grillby’s on his breaks, they’d noticed a jar that sat at the end of the bar. It was unmarked and had a few odd G sitting in it at all times. It didn’t seem to be a tip jar, as they never saw anyone depositing money after getting their food. But the amounts varied, so they knew it must be filled _somehow._

The mystery filled Frisk with determination.

The investigation began with Papyrus, as Sans was known to conveniently disappear whenever they wanted to ask anything.

It was easy to find the soon to be royal guard. Despite his abhorrence for greasy foods, he still lingered near his father’s restaurant and Frisk found him in the bar’s back yard.

He seemed to be building a maze puzzle just big enough for a mouse. It was cute and Frisk wanted to know more about it, but they had to prioritize. One mystery a day was enough.

“HM?” Papyrus hummed thoughtfully. He laid his hammer down and crossed his skeletal arms over his battle body as he thought. “WELL, THAT IS A GREAT QUESTION, HUMAN! THE ANSWER IS… I DON’T KNOW.”

Frisk was disappointed and a bit confused. How could the Great Papyrus _not_ know?

“I WAS ONLY A BABYBONES WHEN THE JAR APPEARED. I NEVER ASKED!” Papyrus explained loudly. Frisk nodded in understanding, though they were disheartened. “BUT PERHAPS SANS WOULD KNOW!”

Frisk nodded decisively. They knew their next step had to be the other skeleton brother.

 

As usual, Frisk found Sans at his post. Also, as usual, he didn’t seem to be doing any work. He was sitting on the chair with his feet propped up on the counter. In his lap was what looked like a car magazine from the 80s and in his hand was a bottle of ketchup.

“You mean the swear jar?” Sans asked when Frisk prompted him. Frisk nodded, though they weren’t sure why a bar would need a swear jar. Adults were allowed to say whatever they wanted, weren’t they?

“Have you talked to Paps?” Sans asked and Frisk nodded. “I bet he was your first stop. Still not over the rejection?”

Frisk frowned sadly and looked at their feet. Sans smothered a chuckle and Frisk appreciated his attempt.

“Well,” Sans said after he stopped laughing. Frisk looked back up at him. “You’re in luck, kiddo. I’m due for a break.”

Sans winked and they weren’t sure exactly how a skull worked like that. Another mystery for another day. The skeleton hopped off of his chair and stashed his magazine and ketchup under the counter. He walked out the back of the station and around to the front.

“Come on, I know a short cut,” Sans explained, motioning for Frisk to follow. They did.

Suddenly they were strolling into Grillby’s. The entire canine unit was present along with a few other monsters that looked familiar, but Frisk hadn’t been introduced to yet. Everyone greeted Sans cheerfully. None of the other guards seemed to mind that Sans skipped out on work so frequently, even if it did drive Papyrus mad.

Sans and Frisk hopped up on their usual barstools after making sure there were no whoopee-cushions waiting to sabotage them. Frisk stared at the swear jar while Sans ordered their usual. When Grillby disappeared into the back, Sans grabbed the unattended ketchup bottle and squirted a healthy amount into his mouth before speaking again.

“I’m actually to blame for the jar,” Sans admitted. Frisk looked at him, shocked. “Y’see, I started picking things up from some of the regulars if you get my drift.”

Frisk did.

“Eventually Pops got fed up with it,” Sans gestured to the jar. “Desperate measures had to be taken. Didn’t want Paps repeating any of that stuff, y’know?”

Frisk observed the jar thoughtfully as Grillby reappeared with two burgers and a fresh bottle of ketchup. He placed a burger in front of each of them and the fresh bottle beside Sans’s burger.

“Hey, Pops,” Sans greeted. He waved a bony hand at Frisk, who was still staring at the jar intently. “Don’t mind the kid. They were just asking about the swear jar.”

“I see,” Grillby said. “I hope you haven’t demonstrated its usefulness.”

Sans grinned, looking almost mischievous. Frisk looked at him. Did Sans ever contribute to the swear jar? Scandalous!

“Nah,” he said. “But maybe you’d like to explain to the kid?”

Grillby did.

 

Grillby entered the back room expecting to see both of his sons, but only Papyrus could be found. Grillby wasn’t immediately concerned. Sans sometimes plucked up the courage to go sit in the bar. The fire elemental knew that Sans would be in good paws, as the canine unit were the last patrons left in the bar.

Each of the guards had promised to look after the boys and Grillby trusted them.

Papyrus didn’t seem bothered by his brother’s absence, in any case. He was busy coloring in an electric blue bunny. Grillby took a moment to watch his youngest, finally relaxing after his busy day.

He was caught off guard when sharp barking shattered the quiet atmosphere, making both him and Papyrus jump. The small skeleton stared at the door, frightened, but Grillby was already disappearing out of it and striding through the kitchen to the front.

When he pulled open the connecting door, he was nearly bowled over by a skeleton puppy colliding with his legs. Grillby bent down and scooped up his son, checking over him for any evidence of harm. Finding nothing, he settled Sans against his chest and let him shove his bony muzzle into his father’s collar. Grillby’s flames would never hurt him.

From the doorway, Grillby watched as Dogaressa’s barks smothered Doggo’s and Dogamy’s. She appeared to be scolding them, though Grillby couldn’t understand what she was saying. He would be patient but he wasn’t leaving until _someone_ explained why his son was whimpering in his arms.

Dogaressa ended her tirade with a decisive bark. Dogamy nodded and stood, approaching Grillby. Behind him, Greater Dog wrapped Doggo in a bear hug and marched out of the bar, Lesser Dog following behind.

“Is he alright?” Dogamy wanted to know. Grillby peeked down at Sans and Sans peeked up with wide eyes. The whimpers had died down. Grillby nodded to the guard, who looked incredibly relieved. “I’m sorry for upsetting him. I didn’t think…”

“What happened?” Grillby questioned. Dogaressa approached, eyes on Sans.

“We all thought that Sans was in the back with Papyrus,” she explained. “Doggo said a bad word and Sans repeated it. My husband scolded Doggo for using such language… loudly.”

Grillby felt the muzzle shift and looked down to see that Sans had shifted enough to speak to him.

“Ammm I inn trrrrroubllle?” Sans asked, words slurred and stretched from the incomplete transformation. Grillby began running a hand over Sans’s skull comfortingly. “I jussst waaaaanted to knowww whaaaat it meannnnnt.”

“You aren’t in trouble, Sans,” he assured his son, still petting him soothingly. “You aren’t going to be in trouble for being curious.”

“I saaaaaaaid it,” Sans said miserably. “Baaaaad worrrrrd.”

“You didn’t know that it was a bad word, did you?” he asked and Sans shook his head slowly. “If you didn’t know it was bad, I can’t be angry with you.”

Sans shoved his face back into Grillby’s collar, letting his muzzle reform. His father began to gently rock him. It was becoming apparent that Sans was nearing his limit for social interaction for the day.

“Sans,” Dogaressa called softly, waiting until he looked at her. She smiled at him and Dogamy smiled as well. “We’re all very sorry for our behavior. None of us should have raised our voices like that. Can you forgive us?”

Sans nodded easily. Despite his own wariness, he did like each of the guards. The incident scared him, but he was beginning to understand that no one was upset with him. He looked up to his father, who understood what he needed immediately.

Grillby stepped into the kitchen and let the door shut behind him. He entered the back room where Papyrus had been nervously watching the door. The younger brother looked perked up to see Sans and Sans seemed similarly comforted. Grillby set Sans down beside Papyrus, who threw his arms around his brother and began to babble loudly.

The boys could comfort each other more than anyone else could ever hope to.

Seeing them both calm down immediately gave Grillby the confidence to leave them there while he spoke to the couple in the bar. He stepped back out into the front room.

“What happened?” Grillby asked again.

“Doggo said, uh, the ‘s’ word and Sans repeated it, asking what it meant. I yelled at Doggo,” Dogamy explained, clearly ashamed of losing his temper so easily. “I wasn’t yelling at Sans but I scared him all the same. I’m sorry.”

“I see.”

“It won’t happen again,” the guard swore and Grillby believed him. He waited for the couple to leave and locked up behind them even if it was a bit earlier than usual.

He went back to check on the boys.

 

The next incident came months later.

When Sans heard the word, he didn’t immediately blurt it out. He wasn’t familiar with it and he knew it could be a bad word. But he’d been learning vocabulary words from monsters at the bar, so he committed it to memory all the same.

Instead of going straight for the dictionary in the back room, Sans tried to use context clues to understand the word. Grillby taught him that. He said it would help with his reasoning skills.

But even though Sans was a very, very clever child, he had absolutely no idea what a fuck was and why Ari wouldn’t give anybody one. Sans, who was also learning about the importance of sharing, thought Ari was selfish for not sharing with other people.

Sans, with the previous incident in mind, didn’t ask Ari what he meant. He saved his questions for when he could speak with his dad alone because he never got upset with Sans or Papyrus when they didn’t understand.

Sans’s moment came after the bar closed for the day and when Grillby was cleaning up. Papyrus was in the back, conducting a tea party for his toys.

Unsure of how best to bring it up, Sans just stared at his father from where he was perched on a bar stool. Though he thought himself to be subtle, Grillby was very aware of the scrutiny. He waited patiently for a while for Sans to work up the courage, but soon realized that they would be in the bar all night if he let it continue. He put his mop away and stripped off his gloves before taking a seat beside his skeletal son.

“Is there anything on your mind?” he asked quietly while Sans fidgeted. The boy nodded hesitantly.

“I heard a word that I didn’t know today,” Sans explained. “I tried to use context clues, but I still don’t know what it means.”

“I’m sure that you tried your best,” Grillby assured him, a sinking suspicion forming in his mind. “Perhaps I can help.”

Sans smiled, relieved by Grillby’s reaction. He’d been making a big deal out of nothing. Reassure that his father wouldn’t be upset, he asked, “What’s a fuck?”

Grillby took a very deep breath and released it slowly.

 

Grillby knew he ran a bar. His patrons were primarily adults. But maybe this would be the start of an era of family friendly bars. With that in mind, Grillby talked to each person that walked into the bar the next day.

“It seems that Sans has begun picking up some adult words from some customers,” Grillby explained each time. “I’m not going to blame anyone. I just ask that you remember that there are impressionable children underfoot these days.”

Many of the patrons agreed easily and laughed at the thought of the skeleton children parroting swears at their father. But there were some that Grillby could tell felt guilty. He kept his word and didn’t point fingers.

Grillby couldn’t blame them for not knowing Sans was around. The child had the most peculiar habit of appearing in the most unexpected places.

 

The third and final incident didn’t involve Sans at all. It occurred some time after the first two. Sans had begun spending the afternoons at the local library. Lesser Dog walked him there in the mornings when he went on break and Dogaressa would walk him back when she and Dogamy went on break.

Papyrus, still uninterested in sitting still for long periods of time, elected to stay in the bar with his father. It was a huge step for both boys and Grillby couldn’t have been more proud.

Everything went smoothly until the afternoon Papyrus grabbed Grillby’s pant leg impatiently, demanding his father’s attention NOW. Grillby excused himself from the customer he’d been talking to and knelt beside his son.

“What is it, Papyrus?” Grillby asked.

“Daddy,” Papyrus began, eyes bright with curiosity. “What’s a titty?”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at emiibo.tumblr.com.


End file.
